Change Of Plea Hearing Set For Former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner

Former Treasurer Martha Shoffner leaving the federal courthouse in Little Rock in June 2013.

Credit Michael Hibblen / KUAR News

A change-of-plea hearing has been scheduled for a former Arkansas state treasurer accused of misspending campaign funds on personal items.

Martha Shoffner was convicted earlier this year on 14 bribery and extortion charges and awaits sentencing in that case. She was scheduled to go to trial in December on separate mail fraud charges accusing her of misspending $9,800 in campaign funds on clothing, cosmetics and other personal items.

A court notice filed Thursday says the change-of-plea hearing is set for Monday. Shoffner resigned last year shortly after her arrest. She had attempted to plead guilty to the corruption charges that accused her of accepting cash from a bond broker in exchange for steering state business his way. But a federal judge rejected her plea, and that case went to trial.

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After nearly four hours of deliberation Tuesday, a jury found former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner guilty of federal bribery and extortion charges for accepting $36,000 from a bond trader in return for steering state investment business his way.

The Verdict

Shoffner appeared to be weeping at the defense table as U.S. District Court Judge Leon Holmes read the jury’s verdict. She declined comment when she left the courtroom.

The first witnesses in the bribery and extortion trial of former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner detailed Thursday how the office would make decisions about the state’s investments and how one broker came to get a disproportionate share of that business.

Shoffner is accused of taking $36,000 from bond broker Steele Stephens, in exchange for steering state business his way.